The Art of
South Asian Weddings
Training Conducted by
Milan Thakrar (Work With Milan) & LaToya Patel (Mulani)
Hampton Court Palace
Tuesday 14th April 2026
9:30am - 5pm
Having independently and jointly carried out South Asian Wedding training for venues, Milan and LaToya have formalised their training into a more solid collaboration. And so “The Art of South Asian Weddings” was born; a training course for venues and suppliers to learn more about working within the South Asian wedding market.
They’re back for 2026 with some new and exciting content at a very unique location!’
Meet The Speakers
Milan Thakrar
Work With Milan
Milan has worked within the events industry for over 15 years, specialising in luxury events and heritage venues. Milan’s consultancy services primarily focus on business development and strategy across all sectors, in particular luxury weddings.
Work With Milan is a specialist events consultancy that works with businesses within the events industry to create and deliver their strategic business objectives. Having built a strong network of clients and industry relationships across the globe, Milan has influenced some of the industry’s most creative business development initiatives.
Milan always strives to drive positive change and growth when working with his clients. Never afraid to push the boundaries and rip off the red tape. Milan’s work has resulted in several commercial opportunities to be unleashed in some of the most sensitive venues, making them accessible for clients to host groundbreaking events, whilst increasing revenue and sales.
Coming from a South Asian background, Milan is well versed in the various South Asian traditions and culture, having attended and planned his fair share of Indian weddings!
LaToya Patel
Mulani & The Asian Wedding Club
LaToya is the co-founder of event & wedding planning company Mulani (Formerly SW Events) and The Asian Wedding Club. She began in the event services industry in 2012, with a specialism in South Asian Weddings that currently look something like:
- An average of 200 guests
- Budgets typically between £150K to £350K+
- Multi-day weddings
- In all types of venues from unique/historic spaces to hotel ballrooms to barns
- Covering a variety of ceremonies and events and a wide mix of backgrounds
- Hosted both home and abroad
Over the years she’s learned that the secret to optimising wedding experiences for everyone involved is finding the right balance between the “in-room experience” and the lasting memories captured on film.
But more than an event and wedding planner, LaToya is an entrepreneur and a wedding industry advocate. Her credentials include speaking on podcasts and at events (such as RSVP Club, wedding showcases & conferences), being the Chairperson for the Council of Representatives in the UK Weddings Taskforce and she is also a judge for The Wedding Industry Awards.
When she’s not planning weddings or moonlighting to support her industry colleagues, you'll catch her sipping cocktails, doing the Mum thing, walking her pup and secretly on the hunt for a new Netflix or Disney+ series to binge watch!
Mulani:
The AWC:
Course Content
South Asian weddings are the most vibrant, engaging, multi day celebrations that bring together two families and their guests for a truly joyous wedding. It is evident that South Asian weddings or cross cultural weddings, operate in a slightly different manner to a traditional civil wedding. It is therefore important to understand the various nuances of working with South Asian couples.
The Art of South Asian Weddings is a training programme that takes you through the various traditions, culture, sales and marketing techniques to help you sell, plan and host South Asian weddings.
We’ll share candid and honest accounts of planning South Asian weddings from a planners perspective and the experience of both speakers. The day will be a mix of presentations and interactive sessions.
Learn how you can be part of this multi billion pound industry and confidently attract more South Asian couples and weddings to your business.
The Current Market Position of Asian Weddings
The South Asian wedding market is estimated to be worth over £3 billion a year and rising. We explore how this sector is evolving and where your business can actively attract more South Asian Weddings. An open forum for delegates to share current experiences, knowledge and aspirations of planning more South Asian weddings.
Cultural Traditions & Ceremonial Rituals
South Asian weddings are full of traditions and rich with cultural ceremonies that hold huge significance for a couple and their families. When working with South Asian couples or cross cultural weddings it’s important to be aware of the various traditions and ceremonies that take place in the lead up to and on the wedding day. Delegates will learn about the various rituals and celebrations of the following faiths:
- Hindu weddings
- South Indian & Sri Lankan weddings
- Sikh weddings
- Islamic weddings
Exploring South Asian Cuisine...
With Amit Lamba from Laguna Catering.
Amit Lamba is the owner and driving force behind Laguna, one of the UK’s most established Asian catering and event management companies, and Laguna Restaurant, a long-standing and respected destination for refined Indian cuisine in West London. Together, these two arms of the business give Amit a rare dual perspective across both restaurant operations and large-scale event delivery.
Under his leadership, Laguna has become a trusted partner for Asian weddings and corporate events across 100+ prestigious venues, as well as delivering international events in Athens, Portugal, France and Morocco. A key area of innovation has been Laguna’s ability to operate successfully within challenging and highly regulated venues, including cultural and heritage spaces where precision, compliance and meticulous planning are critical.
Amit is widely respected for his deep understanding of the Asian weddings market and operational delivery at scale.
Meet the Planner
Meet Latoya Patel from Mulani who will share case studies, candid examples of planning South Asian weddings, hints and tips of working with couples, planners and South Asian suppliers.
Marketing Your Business to Attract South Asian Clients
Is your business attractive to South Asian weddings? Let us share with you tips and techniques to position your business to attract this demographic.
Using case studies from industry professionals, we’ll explore proven sales and marketing channels and how these have helped businesses to generate commercial growth within the sector.
Delegate Fee
£425 + VAT Per Person
Including full day of training, course materials, lunch and refreshments
FAQs
We are more than happy for more than one person per company to attend, in fact we would encourage teams to attend so you're all on the same page.
Yes, when you book, there will be a form to complete which includes a question about any dietary requirements you (and you're team if attending) have.
If you need to contact the team at any point feel free to reach us on hello@southasianweddings.co.uk.
Once you've signed up, you'll instantly be provided with an invoice. You can pay the invoice online using a credit or debit card, or you can use the bank details on the invoice to make a BACS payment.
There will be a professional photographer and videographer around on the day, if you don't want to be in any photos or video, please speak to one of the hosts on the day. The footage will be for promotional use and won't be capturing the content to re-watch.
If you've purchased a spot on the course, the tickets are non-refundable. However, we are happy for you to transfer them to a colleague from your venue / business or another business.
The whole experience was amazing, from the very start all staff were helpful and welcoming. I feel like it even exceeded expectations and was such an engaging and worthwhile experience.
- Camilla Eriksen
Historic Royal Palaces
It's taken me until this course to understand that hosting South Asian weddings is an art, not a science.
There isn't a strict formula to follow, instead it is a matter of understanding the culture and wedding traditions that underpin different communities and creating events to reflect them.
- Alison Hargreaves
Founder, Guides for Brides
The day was informative and engaging, and there was a nice opportunity to network with others in the industry.
- Hannah James
Event Sales Manager, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
I was truly inspired and found the course absolutely invaluable.
LaToya and Milan were both so knowledgeable and shared such great insight. I really found that I opened my mind to new ideas and left feeling thoroughly inspired.
It exceeded my expectations.I really feel like the day not only taught me lots of valuable information, it also really inspired me to think differently, and this was so interesting.
- Lucie Butler
Wedding Manager, Swinfell Hall Hotel
Endorsed by
